


The One Where She Gets a Family

by kittensnakes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Author is Allergic to Cats, Canon Compliant, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Catra-centric (She-Ra), F/F, F/M, Fire Magic, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Humor, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Magicat Catra (She-Ra), Magicat lore, Magicats (She-Ra), Mentioned Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Old Magicat Lore, Old She-ra Lore, Original Character(s), Political Inaccuracies, Post-Canon, Post-War, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner's A+ Parenting, adora is an idiot, all of them are idiots at some point, google what is a monarchy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 00:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30114444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittensnakes/pseuds/kittensnakes
Summary: "There seems to be some sort of celebration on the beach.”Glimmer, Bow, and Adora immediately rush to the window- forgetting their breakfasts in their hands as they place themselves onto the glass and practically leave a mark in the frame, gasping and cooing as they catch a glance at the gatherings happening on the shore.“They’re cats!” Bow pipes, voice melting into a godawful coo.“Like literal cats?” Catra quirks her brow, “yeah no- we’re leaving. I’m not dealing with an island of cats today.”She can predict that Bow and Glimmer will practically force her to do the photoshoot with the furry, mangy things, not to say she wasn’t her own furry, mangy thing- she had never particularly resonated with cats. Other cats, per say,  Melog senses the thought and growls in her presence.“No, Catra,” Adora says in awe, “they’re like you.”***When the Best Friend Squad finally goes on that intergalatic roadtrip, they make a few pitstops around Etheria first. When they stumble upon an island that’s cut off all connection to the outside world, what happens when Catra finds out they all look just like her?
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 108





	The One Where She Gets a Family

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome everyone to my magnum opus! I’ve been working on this fic since SEPTEMBER!! Okie tbh I started the outline in september and I started this past sunday. This one thing is all the sweat and blood and panic I’ve ever produced, but I’ve never enjoyed something more. I feel like I was giving three months worth of monster energy and i finished it all in a week.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it, it was truly a pleasure.
> 
> Note: the page breakers, if they don’t show on your screen: they’re itty bitty crowns :3
> 
> Dedicated to my friend Hya, my editor and his cat, bitches who are allergic to cats but likes them anyways, Melanie Martinez, Taylor Swift, and Spotify’s Instrumental Playlists- y’all the realest.

Honestly the whole thing was a bit hazy. 

She was somewhere she never was before: it was bright and warm, soft, Catra could count the sweet sensations in her hands if she was sure she still had them, she couldn’t bring herself to care. The serenity that surrounded her was breathtaking, and seemingly unfamiliar. It wasn’t like days in Brightmoon or the recollections of the Horde, spending hours and nights in a clinking, metal bedroom- going over battle plans, sitting in her self-loathing- this was a serenity entirely different.

She couldn’t quite make out forms, just knowing that the figures besides her are  _ heat  _ itself, presenting itself in all softness. At her flanks there were two of them, she could tell that they were just like her, supposedly  _ soft.  _ It was a strange feeling. They were furry, she noted, or maybe she was wrapped in the blanket, she was too content to really care where she was because she was with  _ them. _

Whoever they were.

_ “C’yra,”  _ She-ra? Is that what they said? She-ra, yeah, she curls into their touch further. 

_ “C’yra,”  _ they repeat, in hushed, unison tones,  _ “C’yra of Dilruth.” _

She wasn’t so sure who that was, they sounded prissy, like an old timey princess, she was sure that this was just one of the many princesses they had yet to meet. 

_ “C’yra of Dilruth the III”  _ of the third? Seriously who was this chick? 

She tries to move from their touch, only resulting in a heap of squirming. she couldn’t leave- she wasn’t sure she could. In fact, she only falls further into the warmth, encircled by the two watching her from above.

She couldn’t deny that the name sounded awfully familiar, its truth just barely on the tip of her sandpaper tongue. It’s an unearthed feeling, the warmth the calling name gives her. She barely remembers it, she’s not even sure if she remembers it at all. 

She stares at the ceiling of whatever room they’re in, it’s painted in twirls and patterns that seem unrecognizable, she nearly scolds herself for not knowing better but still, all of it remains unfamiliar. It’s unexplainable what staring at the patterns does to her, it fills her up with this buzzing energy, misplaced and drawn through her body. 

_ “C’yra of Dilruth the III”  _ the two at her side look at her with this unashamed pride that she can’t actually make out. Their faces, she can’t see them but she just  _ knows  _ what they look like. She knows, she swears to herself, but they’re so impossible to make out. It makes her eyes water, heart weak. It’s so much, it's too much.

This has to be a nightmare, she’s sure of it. All she can hear is  _ C’yra of Dilruth the III,  _ a thousand times over and all she can feel is that suffocating warmth and…

“Catra!”

She wakes up. Her body repels her top half forward and leaves her panting heavy, sweating over the comforter as she heaved, arms protecting shielding her head. A hand comes to rest inbetween her shoulder blades and it takes all her early-morning might not to slap it away.

“Catra,” Adora breathes, fingers softly rubbing at the fur of her back, “you’re okay.”

_ You’re okay,  _ she says back to herself, not  _ it’s okay  _ or  _ it’s going to be okay,  _ she is okay. Everything is just okay. She heaves again, shaking herself off and finally giving Adora a look in the eyes.

Adora often gets this full, wet look in her eyes, Catra never mentions it to her but it fills her heart with the closest she’s known to serenity. Any look Adora gives Catra commands her to become a puddle, but this one especially. She never had it before, not in the Fright Zone, even when they spent the nights curled into each other, whispering praises and occasional not-so-accidental touches, certainly not when they were fighting either, no, this is one that she’s come to know recently, when both of them could finally admit it. Catra sighs.

“I’m okay,” she says, emptily, voice barely breaking the softest of tones, “thank you.”

“No problem,” Adora responds in the same hush, “we’re almost to Purrsia, I think Entrapta needed to reload the crystals. We’ve been on water for awhile.”

No wonder why she had such a nightmare, Catra shakes it off, she always has weird dreams when they stay on the water. When Adora asks her, restrained and testing, about Catra’s dream, she can’t seem to remember it anymore. But the name  _ Purrsia  _ sends a quiet thrill down her spine.

“You looked… tense,” Adora notes, her hand running up Catra’s arm- okay, how is she even supposed to remember her dream when she’s touching her like that? “Even before you started thrashing around.”

Catra grimaces, Adora knows better than to think it's towards her but a twinge of guilt still ties in her chest as she just briefly tries to remember her dream. 

Nope. Nothing. Catra takes another deep breath and runs a clawed hand through her short hair, “you watching me sleep, princess?” Catra jokes, barely.

Adora doesn’t try to hide it, she shrugs, “maybe a little.”

There’s a brief pang in her heart as Adora gives her a final glance of hopefulness and gets up, “we should get dressed,” Adora throws a lump of Catra’s clothes straight to her chest, “loser has to drink Bow’s weird herbal tea.”

_ That  _ certainly wasn’t happening, the drink tasted like dark water- Catra barked out a laugh as she hastily got dressed.

Adora ends up being the one to drink the tea, Catra reassures her that she doesn’t have to as they make it into the kitchen, but Adora’s headstrong on keeping the tiniest of promises. Melog comes out from their own hidey hole, taking from staying in the rafters or wherever closest to the heaters overnight, curling around Catra’s legs as she watches Adora grumble into her mug. 

They bump their head into her calf, rubbing it along the back of her knees, mewing softly as they peer up to her. Their mane isn’t a different shade than usual but she’s sure they can sense the odd, silent discomfort that radiates off her shoulders. She gives them a small hiss,  _ I’m fine,  _ and looks back to the rest of the group.

“So,” Catra drums her claws on the counter, “Purrsia?”

Bow nods, “they haven’t tried to make contact with any of the kingdoms since they were attacked a few decades ago by the Horde, but, since Prime effected  _ pretty much  _ everything in Etheria, we figured we should do a quick check up.”

“Yup! And be back by your birthday,” Adora adds, gleefully as she wraps her arms around Catra’s torso and sets her chin down on her shoulder, Catra would trill if her birthday wasn’t mentioned.

“That’s this week?” she muttered to herself, “I swore it was next week. Whatever, it doesn’t matter- we can stay here as long as we need.”

Melog mews disapprovingly, Catra ignores the slight uptake in hue in their mane. 

“Seriously, who doesn’t like their own birthday?” Glimmer exclaims, getting rather dramatic for early morning. Catra wants to groan, it wasn’t like celebrations and holidays were naturally drilled into her system, she wasn’t sure she even knew her birthday until she was… at least ten, maybe eleven or twelve.

“Congrats, you forgot I was raised in an oppressive, alien military for the first time  _ ever _ ,” Catra rolls her eyes, it's a sore subject she shouldn’t take lightly, but she can’t help but take the bait when it's there. 

“Well now we have to do something for your birthday!” Glimmer claims, ignoring Catra’s previous bite,“we’re going to throw a celebration on the ship!”

“We have streamers!” Bow adds cheerily.

“Nuh uh!” Catra waves her hands, “nope. We are not doing that. No parties.”

She wasn’t entirely sure if she even  _ deserved  _ a party, she didn’t have a chance to think about it before Entrapta rolls in.

“We’re here, I think we just need to find a place to park the ship…” she states, scanning the large panoramic window, “there seems to be some sort of celebration on the beach.”

Glimmer, Bow, and Adora immediately rush to the window- forgetting their breakfasts in their hands as they place themselves onto the glass and practically leave a mark in the frame, gasping and cooing as they catch a glance at the gatherings happening on the shore.

“They’re cats!” Bow pipes, voice melting into a godawful coo.

“Like literal cats?” Catra quirks her brow, “yeah no- we’re leaving. I’m not dealing with an island of  _ cats  _ today.”

She can predict that Bow and Glimmer will practically force her to do the photoshoot with the furry, mangy things, not to say she wasn’t her own furry, mangy thing- she had never particularly resonated with cats. Other cats, per say, Melog senses the thought and growls in her presence.

“No, Catra,” Adora says in awe, “they’re like  _ you.” _

Catra’s heart nearly stops, she can feel it regaining strength after a slow moment passes- slow, pounding pumps through her system as blood runs back through her. She had never met someone like her, not in the Horde nor in the Crimson Waste, or even when she was rebuilding Salineas or running around Brightmoon. She swore sometimes she wasn’t quite as real as everyone else because there was just  _ no one  _ who even came across similar to her, that she was the last of a kind that didn’t even exist. 

“Catra!” Glimmer teleports besides her abruptly, shaking her at her shoulders and forcing her to come back from her thoughts, “these are  _ your  _ people!”

Catra doesn’t know what to say, she would stay in place if the four of them, including her own cat, didn’t push her out of the ship. Time freezes as she meets all their glowing faces, fuzzy and cat eyed just like her, and Catra can’t quite word the feeling that's running in her system but all she knows is.

“We’re definitely getting out of here as soon as we can.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Adora sure as hell didn’t go to university, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her degree in “ _ Reading-Your-Emotion-Repulsed-Cat-Lover,”  _ in fact, she has her PEE-HEH-DEE in it. From the looks of it, her study is not having a good time.

She’s found her way to slink to the back of the group, brooding with her ears pinned to the sides of her head as she watches the cat children play jungle gym on She-ra’s biceps and the other feline civilians forming an impenetrable circle around the four of them, watching in absolute fascination. Adora doesn’t want to say that she’s used to this but she may have possibly minored in  _ “How-to-Handle-Misplaced-and-Glorified-Attention-from-Strangers _ .” Honestly she has no idea how university or college works, or if there’s even a difference between the two, but she does know that that’s not why Catra’s silently sulking, scanning the crowd calculatingly for an exit. No, this is a new thing on its own. 

They had never talked about where either of them were from before, Adora filled Catra in on the whole “Portal Baby” bit but, aside from that, nothing on Catra’s end. Adora knows it isn’t healthy to not bring it up, but Catra seemed quite fine beforehand, reminding Adora that they had each other.

_ “You’re my family, all I need is you,” she murmured warmly, curling into her side with a soft purr rumbling from her chest. _

Clearly, that was not the case- Catra was clearly upset with not knowing there were people like her all along, maybe. Part of her believes that maybe she should just be happy, but she squashes that thought down and attempts to make her way to Catra.

“Ahem,” a man pokes through the crowd, which does not necessarily make way for him, nonetheless, he seems to be of the royal court, dressed in the colors of maroon and bronze, fully covering his torso and legs unlike the other civilians who stick to wraps in similar shades. The crowd goes silent as he makes it to She-ra’s feet, “I assume you must be the She-ra? A part of the Greater Etheria Princess Alliance?”

She-ra chuckles, placing the children playing on her arms down gently, “yes I am ‘the She-ra,’ these are my, umh,  _ cohorts,  _ Queen Glimmer of Brightmoon, Bow, and, uh-”

She wasn’t so sure if she should introduce Catra, if it’ll make her shy away evenmoresome, but the words have already slipped from her loose-lips, “and Catra, my girlfriend.”

Okay, definitely not politically appropriate, Catra’s now flushed and flustered at her side, the same as She-ra, who’s taken to dissipating her form and becoming Adora once more. She can barely hear the crowd gasp, her hand tightening on Catra’s shoulder, “I was hoping we could talk to your Queen and King?”

She hopes she got that right, she swore Bow told her before that they were under a monarchy, however not at all mentioning that they’re cat people. 

“Yes, they’ve been expecting you,” he bows slightly, “if you could follow me.”

He turns quickly on his heels, expecting them to automatically follow him. With an awkward wave, they followed him past the crowd and into the town. 

Surrounded by thick thatches of trees, bearing fruits and colorful flowers of all sorts, stood a bustling town of marketers and well-loved homes made of clay and stone. The ground beneath their feet was soft, unlike the cobblestone back in Brightmoon, Adora figures it’s because they don’t need shoes and therefore, don’t need harsh stones under their steeps. The blonde absentmindedly tugs Catra along with Melog following, as she watches families and friends go about their lives. She looks above their heads and sees banners hanging at every wooden post and tied above their heads.

“Is there a celebration happening this week?” Glimmer inquires politely, asking the tabby cat walking ahead of them.

“Yes, actually,” he states plainly, “we’re having the Celebration of the Lost Princess, we honor her the fourth week of October, though it’s a weekly remembrance, the island takes to celebrating her on the weekend, around the time of her actual birth.”

“You said remembrance,” Bow inspects, his word trails as he tries to ask his true question.

The man nods curtly, “yes. We don’t know how filled in Greater Etheria is with Magicat history, but about two decades ago, we were attacked by the Horde’s Army. Fortunately, we were able to shake them off of us. The Queen, afterall, is a great commander, but we lost our princess in the battle, she must have been around one or two.”

There’s an implicit cruelness to his words, hinting at the true wickedness of the Horde. Adora feels a tremble at her side, swerving her head and body to the side of the road, stopping Catra at her shoulders as the rest move on, “you alright?”

Catra looks at her with wide eyes for only a moment before slapping her hand away, “I’m fine.”

Adora doesn’t push on it further, passing a final look to her girlfriend before continuing with the group. She figures Melog can stay with her, who’s already taking their own look around and not straying far, their mane a light red. Catra and them stay a few feet behind before they make it to the edge of the borough, which opens up to a high and windy trail, covering in a luxuriant rainforest.

“This is the trail up to the palace,” the cat-man speaks, “though, it is quite a hike.”

Adora loves a good hike, she wants to say, but Glimmer quickly goes, “oh! No need- I can just teleport us up there.”

“No,” he shakes her off, “there’s no need for that. Come along now.”

He doesn’t let them say another word as he swiftly takes to the forest.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“By the way,” Bow heaves, trying to keep pace with the tabby cat, who seems to not even be breaking sweat, “we never caught your name. I’m Bow.”

“I know,” he says curtly, “Garfield, I’m the King and Queen’s royal confidant.”

There’s an observable praise to his title, but, still, Bow has to stifle a giggle, “like the cat?”

“What cat? I am a cat, a Magicat, that is.”

“Well, yes, but there’s a cat named Garfield,” Bow explains, “he eats lasagna.” 

Garfield rolls his shoulders as he hastens his gate, face uncaring of Bow’s question, “we do not have lasagna here.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

By the time they reach the front of the palace, they’re all gasping for air. Adora’s sure they just made them take this hike so they could set up a band at the front gates and make them all sweaty, surely humiliated by their own red faces, because there is no way that this is the only way up here. 

Adora wheezes dryly, falling onto her knees as Bow and Glimmer, do the same. None of their stamina was expected to be tested like this today. She looks towards Catra, seeing her upright and staring calculatingly at the guards and band, not a trace of sweat or heavy breath, Melog, the same as her, dead silent. 

“We’re here,” Garfield notes obviously, “they’ve been expecting you for sometime now.”

“How have they been expecting us? We had no way of communication between you and us in Brightmoon?” Bow questions, absolutely no anger in his voice from when he basically made them walk a thousand flights of stairs in uphill hiking.

“We have marine scouts, ensuring that we know of dangers beforehand rather than being sitting ducks.”

“Oh! Does that mean some cats actually like water?” Glimmer ponders jokingly, “Catra hates water.”

Garfield takes his first interrogative look at Catra, scanning her up-and-down and bouncing to her feline companion with squinted eyes before he goes, “no cat likes water, it’s just the position.”

“But none of that, they’re expecting you,” Garfield continues to lead them into the quad. 

The band and guards continue drumming and surveying the area as they make their way in, paying no mind to the newcomers as they pass them and into the extravagant front yard. Decked in clay fountains and succulents, it's unlike anything in Brightmoon, Adora can’t help but be impressed when she watches two hanging clay pots pour into an overwhelmingly large fountain, covered in viney plants and cacti alike, fish dot around in the waters as well. She looks to Catra, who still faces stoically as she hangs at the back of their bunch, taking an occasional glance as they pass the fish-filled fountain. 

She remains in sheer concentration, focusing on the mosaic that hangs just above the fountain. The mosaic seems to be an abstract tile collection of the Queen, King, and their daughter, who rests just above the water, curled into her parents' touch and swaddled permanently into a red and gold blanket with rested, closed eyes. Catra’s step stutters as she stares at the painting, just momentarily as she shakes her head and continues moving, tail quickly going to wrap around her waist.

Adora’s very sure her girlfriend is not okay, but she can’t say a word of it with Melog so protectively at her side. They finally pass the yard and make it into the main hall.

“Garf!” A voice calls, walking with solid-feet past the amberlike pillars, a black-and-white cat emerges from them, surely crossed at six feet, no taller than She-ra. He’s muscular and barely modest, black clumps placed chaotically across his blanche chest, a worn wrap skirt hanging off his hips. Adora can barely see the center of his head but his eyes are a shining emerald, “I take it that these are the guests Arty and Leon spotted off our shores?”

Garfield bobs his head crisply, “indeed, this is the Queen of Brightmoon, Glimmer, and her cohorts: Bow, She-ra, and… Catra.”

“Catra, huh?” his head swiftly turns to the girl who stands a few feet away, taking to immediately watching her. Catra’s tail twitches in discomfort, wrapping around her waist along with her arms, “are those colored contacts?”

He’s referring to Catra’s eyes, which were, in the past, a huge source of teasing and bullying, though they may be possibly the most beautiful gems Adora’s even seen: one a gleaming amber and the other a shocking turquoise. It’s strange of him to assume they’re contacts.

“No,” Catra recoils quietly, curling more into herself, “no, uh, they’re real.”

Melog growls a little, mane spiking into a harsher red as the tall cat laughs and shakes it off, waving the alien cat away. 

“Sorry,” he pays no more mind to it, as if it never happened in the first place, “anyways, I’m Dino- s’nice to meet y'all. I’ll be taking care of you guys throughout your stay, anything you need: I’m your man.”

“Oh! Thank you,” Adora smiles, “but we don’t plan on staying longer than a day.”

“Nonsense! I insist, we already have the guest houses made for you guys,” he reassures, “beautiful sunset view, shouldn’t miss it, now, come on! Let me take y’all to the Quing, as I like to say, that’s just the Queen and King, shortened.”

They laugh airily, a little shocked at the command in his voice to stay the weekend, they have no choice but to oblige, plus, who could say no to a sunset view?

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Dino pushes the strong, wooden and bronze doors apart, revealing to the Best Friends Squad the King and Queen’s throne room. It’s not unlike any other throne room that Adora’s seen in Etheria, though each does possess its quirks and schemes unlike any other, this one is similar to the hall, a soft red marbling throughout, windows along the edges of the large walls, entangled with vines, and there was a staticness in the air as they walked to present themselves to the King and Queen. 

They don’t say a word until they reach their feet, dropping into a collective bow immediately. It feels like hours before they all collect themselves off the hardened floor, but Adora always bows a bit longer than everyone else. 

When she finally gets to take a look at the two, she’s taken aback by their familiarity. Adora’s clear it's unrecognizable, something wrongly placed in her brain as she’s sure that she’s never seen these people once in her life, she had no idea there were more Magicats, she didn’t even know what they were till Entrapta explained it before they left the ship, clearly, everyone forgot the “cat people” memo. Still, past that, these people she’s never seen before are so intrinsically entranced in her head, they may have been there her entire life.

The Queen, she catches her name is Felicity, has a strong build, dressed in red robes that only enhance her powerful frame, contrasting nicely with her tawny fur, stripped in all the same places as Catra, only its a deeper brown than hers is a deep gold, her stripes are covered with bronze armbands that attach two gauzy red fabrics across her chest and to her biceps, it’s all too beautiful, recognizable her fur is. 

The king is as dark as night, lanky and long, matching the Queen in arm bands adorning his arms but his robes are a nice shade of green, contrasting everything else in the castle. 

And when she meets both of their eyes, she audibly gasps: both, one a shocking turquoise, and the other a gleaming amber.

This surely just has to be a coincidence. 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“You’re free to stay as long as you like,” King Milo consoles, smiling awkwardly as the Queen besides him sits cooly, observing the four presented to her like prey in the wild, upper canine biting sly into her lip, “it’s our pleasure. We’ll let you know when we’re having dinner, it's our honor to invite you to the royal dinners happening this weekend. I wish I could say it was just one but, hah, our community loves partying!”

It’s an empty laugh, Catra can’t bring herself to respond in any way as she stares back at the Queen. She feels pinned under her gaze, tail already puffy and eyes taken to slits. Melog’s at a low burning growl, transparent crystal tail curled protectively around her, she can’t notice it all that much. Somehow, she feels cornered, out of turns, she hadn’t even played yet. She’s never met this woman, but she seems to know all her plays. 

She doesn’t know why, but it gives her as much fear as it does anger, who is this woman to watch her like this? To read her like she’s known her all her life and dare not to say a word? Bile vile builds up in her throats, suffocating her like the vines along the palace, she can’t say a word, none at all. 

The world might as well be frozen, but the King, who’s bashful and talkative, unlike the Queen, continues speaking.

Milo, who looked as if he was punched in the gut when they first came in, has settled down, eyes glazing over the four of them as he speaks, “we’ll have Dinah take you to your rooms. Feel free to ask us for anything, and, Catra.”

She turns to them, fire ablaze in her chest. His gaze now equally as pinned on her as the Queen’s, both their eyes glow throughout an already bright room. 

“Anything,” is all he says. 

The Queen doesn’t bother with any remarks as they’re pulled away by the head maid. 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Dinah is quite talkative as they make their way to the cottages, which seems to be a downhill walk from the palace, nearly the same amount of time and energy as to get up the first trail. No one could say a word as they comb over what just happened, especially as Catra, who has been quiet since they reached the sands, who’s intensity has increased since they left the two rulers. Adora wants to come along at her side and bump against the girl, but Melog’s already taken to comforting her. 

“And that’s what happened at the last island-wide cookout! Oh, it always sends me through a whirlwind!” She laughs carelessly, tying off her final story, “I’m sure I’m boring you all, fortunately for you, we’re here.”

There’s no malice in her voice as she spreads open the curtain of vines with a single hand, parting way to the private cottages along the deserted shore. To be honest, likely none of them were listening to her except Bow, who had his eyes trained on her black-and-white wagging tail. 

It’s a private beach, completely cut off from the celebrations happening past the jungle, Adora can hear cheers and music from the otherside. Unlike the public shores, the ocean is much calmer, waves rolling lazily on the sand, far enough from the cottages that Catra would be comfortable enough away from the water. 

Dinah walks them a few more yards to their guest homes, which seems to be two-open faced single rooms, a king-size bed can be seen through the window. There are a few more pods similar to there’s a past thick brush of hedges. 

“Here!” Dinah hoots, opening the glass door to the first cottage, “we figured y'all were couples so we gave you your own lil’ space, but let us know if there’s any problems. There should also be a cat bed in one of the rooms for your … cat thing. Other than that, we left you some wraps and robes, there should be some fur-protectant shampoo and conditioner in there for you, Catra.”

The way she says  _ Catra,  _ is broken, springy, but the wide smile on her face doesn’t cease as she says the words, in fact looks a little too big for her mouth as she targets the girl. Catra gives her a small nod and awkward grin.

“We can get our clothes from the ship if you want,” Adora offers, watching the girl and Melog, who’s curling around her legs once more, walking slowly and hesitantly into the room. 

“No, no,” Catra waves it away, “I don’t wanna stand out even more, we’ll wear the wraps. Uh, but I think I’m gonna go on a walk.”

She’s scanning the room and the panoramic view of the beach, cringing as a seagull calls from outside their door.

The words are equally as choppy and tricky as Dinah’s, “do you want me to go with you?”

Catra just shoots her a look and Adora knows, cowering away slightly and opting to go into her room. She’ll let Catra brood.

“She’s acting a little weird, don’t you think?” Glimmer points out as she follows Adora into her own room. “I mean, weirder than usual.”

Adora scans the room, hands searching to busy themselves, but since everything was prepared for them, oddly, she had nothing to do. “I mean, not really,” she brings herself to say.

“She’s been quiet the whole time! And like, not her usual quite, she looks like she’s brooding,”  _ because she is, for whatever reason. I’ll let you know when I find out why. _

“Has Catra ever mentioned her family before?”

The words make Adora slip, she abruptly shakes her head. She hasn’t, Adora repeats to herself, but did she ever want to? She told her that she was her family but did she ever think beyond that? Neither of them were very good in the parent department.

“Do you think she came from here?”

“What makes you say that?” 

“I mean, she looks  _ exactly  _ like the queen,” Glimmer points out, “she has their eyes.”

“Didn’t Entrapta say that cats are more likely to have heterosexuality?”

“No that’s Heterochromia, Adora,” Glimmer rolls her eyes, “even then, Catra isn’t an actual cat- this is magicat lore.”

“Oh,” she’s at a loss for words.

“I read up on it awhile ago,” Glimmer continues, “there’s this ceremony in the royal blood that essentially gives the partner matching heterochromic eyes to the heir. It’s meant to ensure that any of the children have it as well.”

Adora doesn’t say more as Glimmer releases her hypothesis, “I think Catra is the lost princess.”

_ Lost princess,  _ the words echo in the room and their heaviness leaks into the floorboards. It couldn’t be.

Suddenly, Adora releases a snort, it’s finicky and rushed with the following chuckle, “nice one Glimmer.”

“Adora I’m serious,” Glimmer remarks, “don’t you think it’s a little weird that they “lost” her in a battle with the Horde and Catra literally  _ came  _ from the Horde?”

“I came from the Horde too,” Adora counters, “s’tons of orphans.”

Glimmer cringes, “and? She was the only one of her kind in the rest of Etheria! That’s weird! Adora! We should talk to her-”

“No!” it comes out too loudly, Adora shudders, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers and scoffing, “if Catra doesn’t want to talk about, which she clearly doesn’t, then we shouldn’t either. It’s fine, she was probably just from an outsider clan or something.”

“Are you serious?” Glimmer chides, “Catra can get her family back if we just-”

“I said no,” Adora decides firmly, she’s not so sure why. Knowing all the heartache that came with Shadow Weaver, the closest thing to a maternal figure either of them ever had, would she ever want to reach out to her birth parents? If they still were alive, that is, she wasn’t saying that she was the _ Lost Princess,  _ “if Catra doesn’t bring it up, we shouldn’t either.”

This was the right choice, she reminds herself. Glimmer groans, slapping her face with her hand, obscuring her eyes, “fine.”

Adora nods, turning away and looking at the materials in the drawer. “I think I’m gonna go get our clothes from the ship, do you need anything?”

Adora shakes her head, obscuring her gaze to escape from Glimmer’s fiery one as she stops out of the room. What she doesn’t see is the look of revelation on Glimmer’s face.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

When Catra comes back, she looks much calmer. Melog’s mane returned to it’s everyday blue-ish hue sometime on their walk. In fact, a small smile plays on her lips when she sees Adora reading through a pamphlet off the porch, “hey Adora.”

She immediately shoots for her touch, plopping down directly next to her and wrapping her arms around the blonde’s neck. She’s over affectionate, even, her tail tapping at Adora’s calves as a light purr runs through her. Adora gives her a smile as her hand comes up to pet the back of Catra’s ears, eliciting more of a purr from the girl, she doesn’t need to say much.

“Nice walk?” By the time Adora asks, Catra looks distant again, glazed eyes reaching across the wide span of the waterfront.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah,” Catra shakes her head a little on her shoulder, “whatcha’ readin’?”

Now giving her direct attention, Catra eyes the pamphlet carefully, differ-colored eyes surely reading over the words quickly, “just a pamphlet I picked up that was on the dresser. Apparently there's many  _ romantic ex-curr-sions  _ we can take advantage of.”

Adora puts a little roll in the word and it makes Catra laugh a little, “think it’s just  _ excursion,  _ princess _. _ ”

_ Princess. Catra. Lost? Lost Princess.  _ No, Adora shoots Catra a loving glance, “I know but I like to put a little  _ spice  _ in it, makes me sound smarter.”

“No one here is going to think you’re smart with that dumb hair poof of yours,” Catra pokes at the thing, it bounces under her touch. She had been growing it out since the war but she still couldn’t bring herself to get rid of the damn thing, “you should probably take it out while we’re here.”

She goes to pull it out but Adora’s already on it, letting it fall onto her shoulders and down her back, it’s only incrementally longer than it should be, though Catra’s is taken as equally as long. It falls barely past her jaw, still looking vaguely like a pixie cut, long strands falling down her face as the rest was pushed back.

Catra doesn’t catch the odd look in her eyes as she plays with her hair, lightly combing through flaxen strands to ensure that there were no tangles from being up so long, “where did Sparkles and Arrows go?”

It snaps her out of it, Adora muses at the familiar nickname, “I think they went to grab stuff from the ship and head into town, we can join them, if you want.”

“Nah, not yet,” Catra pecks her cheek, “think I wanna stay here for a while, you can go if you want.”

“I don’t mind,” she answers softly, “rather be here with you than  _ Garfield.” _

Catra let out a squeaky laugh, “interesting name.”

“Yeah, did you hear what Bow said about Lasagna? Do you know what that is?”

Catra shakes her head, “probably some weird vegetable or something.”

“Yeah or like… a bug,” Adora jests, it’s not nearly as funny as the name  _ Garfield,  _ but Catra still seems to laugh, much softer than before, and it makes her heart warm, “can I ask you something?”

“Can I stop you?” Catra raises her brow, resting her head back down on the bow of her shoulder.

“No, I guess not,” she murmurs, almost to herself, “have you ever thought about where you came from? Like actually, really, you can be honest with me.”

Catra frowns, letting her head up from her shoulder to rest it on her knees and arms, “yeah, I have.”

Adora waits for her to continue, trying to change the wide look on her face, watching Catra with watery, blue eyes.

“I mean, how couldn’t I? We grew up in the shittiest place in the world, it was easy to… to daydream about it.”

“About what?”

“About… I don’t know, my parents, barging in on the Horde and demanding me back from Shadow Weaver, dismantling it so easily to take me somewhere where I didn’t have to choose between grey and brown ration bars. Just some kid’s daydream, Shadow Weaver made it pretty clear that  _ no one  _ was coming back for me.”

Adora gulps when Catra turns to her, less phased than before, “what about you.”

Adora nods, she can’t bring herself to much more.  _ Tell her. Lost Princess. No, no! Don't tell her  _ runs in her mind _ ,  _ “you think about them now?”

“Not as much,” Catra says, more words surely on the tip of her tongue.

__ ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Bow had two options: possibly piss off Catra or possibly piss off his girlfriend, both were absolute forces of nature and there was no way of getting out of this.  _ Piss off  _ was a little too crude of wording for him, but he already saw how Glimmer came in, huffing, and immediately teleporting them into the ship. 

“Entrapta!” Glimmer calls out into the ship, knowing better than to think Entrapta wouldn’t be sneaking through the vents, “I need you for something.”

Entrapta swings down from the rafter above, “hi Glimmer, hi Bow.”

It elicits shock from both of them but it doesn’t show enough to make the point of  _ never do that again  _ across to Entrapta. Glimmer shakes it off, “you probably have DNA samples of all of us, right?”

“Surely! I took to collecting some for my clone research but Bow told me it was unethical, why? Do you want to make a clone?”

“No,” Glimmer sighs, aggravated, “I need you to run Catra’s DNA, see if she has any… relatives.”

Entrapta squeals, bouncing on her pigtails, “does this mean I can also make my clone? Catra would be a  _ great  _ clone!”

“No! No clone! We just need to know, please,” Glimmer depicts, “again: no. Clones.”

Entrapta nods, only marginally, noting only the word  _ Clones _ , “should I send the results to Catra when I get them, it shouldn’t take longer than an approximate four hours or so.”

Glimmer shakes her head, “you cannot tell Catra either, it’s a surprise… for her birthday.”

Entrapta nods again, curtly before walking away. “You don’t wanna come with us for the celebration?” a look from Glimmer, “after the DNA test, that is.”

“No need, I have all I need on Magicat Culture, this is far more interesting,” Bow and Glimmer look at each other and shrug, leaving Entrapta to be with her studies.

“Do you think that was the right thing to do?” Bow asks hesitantly as they meet the sand.

“Who cares, when we get the results: Catra will be glad that we went out of our way to do this for her,” she says shortly, it's a gross overestimate on Catra’s reactions, even Bow knows better not to try and expect a certain outcome.

He could feel it in his uncovered gut, this was a very bad idea. 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Eventually, Adora is able to convince Catra to go to the beach and join in on the festivities, just barely, making her know that she will  _ definitely not try to get her in the water.  _ Catra begrudgingly obliged, helping Adora pull on her own wraps.

And while the wraps they were given were supposed to make them stand out less, Catra still glew in the afternoon’s bask. Adora had always known that red was Catra’s color but this deep shade of velvet was just… Catra owned it, wearing a slinky maroon wrap top the curved at the bottom of her chest and up around her neck, revealing the final tufts of sternum fur from below, and a matching skirt that cinched at the side of her lip, hanging loosely. 

The wrap she wore nearly matched the same shade of red as Catra’s, just a bit lighter, and she wore it across her chest rather the way Catra did. Even then, they were definitely going to stick out. 

Her throat dried up as she watched her girlfriend move across the room, clicking the final piece of her outfit in place: a bronze armband similar to the King and Queen’s, however it was more light and wirey than there’s, which were more like cuffs, it was strange that there wasn’t an armband with Adora’s outfit. 

Melog growls and covers their eyes with their paws, opting to stay away and curl on the porch. 

Catra gives her this all-knowing smirk, ignoring Melog’s disturbance, “what, cat caught your tongue?”

“Shut up,” Adora scoffs, “you literally have such a crush on me.”

“Never said I liked you,” Catra sticks out her tongue as she comes to hug Adora at her waist.

“Uh huh,” Adora swoons, “you  _ love  _ me.”

There’s a strange accent on Adora’s words but Catra’s still giving her the look that she knows she only gives her, eyelids dropped, pupils dilated, and a lazy grin playing on her face. Even now, after all this time, Adora is still so amazed by her eyes.

_ Princess. Lost Princess. Talk to Catra.  _ Please, no, should not and would not do that. 

Hastily, Adora pecks her on the lips, clearly not savoring it enough before she moves away abruptly, “come on, we should go join Bow and Glimmer.”

“Fine,” Catra groans playfully, “if you insist, I’ll race you there!”

Immediately bolting off, Adora is left in her dust, revving up to follow her girlfriend with a laugh.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

She gets Catra in the water. Just barely. Catra has climbed on top of She-ra’s shoulders, hissing with more and more intensity as She-ra slinks into the tide. Bow and Glimmer are beside them, bringing water up from the ocean and attempting to throw it at Catra, who only hissed more and dug her claws into She-ra’s shoulder blades. 

“No! No! Adora, _please,_ get them off me! I’m being attacked!” Catra hisses, pawing at the girl’s hair poof to stop her from falling in.  
“You are not being attacked,” Adora rebukes, a great idea dawning on her, “I can put you down if you want.”

“Do not put me down!”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Throughout their day, Adora finds a few more Magicats with heterochromia. She only knows them because they place a dead rat on their towels. 

Glimmer and Bow hold onto each other as Catra plucks it and tosses it into some plants, “you’re not even going to save it?” asks Bow.

“Why would I save it? It’s a dead rat corpse.”

“To bury him.”

“I’m not going to bury a fucking rat on my free time. Do we know who did this? It looked half-eaten.”

Before either of the two can make a noise of disgust, Adora brings the two perpetrators by the scruff, “yup. Right here.”

She dropped the two of them on their butts, they fall with an  _ oof.  _ When Catra gets a good look at them, she catches what she’s been seeing a lot since she woke up that morning:  _ familiarity.  _ They had the same color fur as her, however many more stripes across their body, and they’re lanky, the same as her, with the same sort of joyous energy she has as a kit.

“Hi,” one of them greets shyly, the girl, who wore her hair long and down her back, thick but finely brushed, and a wrap dress the same shade as Catra’s.

“That's your rat?” Catra references the dead rat in the bushes, the girl nods.

“We just wanted to give you a warm welcoming!” the boy pipes up. Both of them have matching sets of eyes, Adora sees now, the girl’s a green and blue and the boys a blue and green. 

“In what world is that a  _ warm welcoming?” _ Glimmer sneers, Bows still not over the lack of rat burials happening.

“Think the rat was still warm,” one of them says and they both giggle.

“I’m Filli,” the girl says, stopping short on their titters, “and this is my brother, Felix.”

__ “Catra,” she states dryly, “nice to make your acquaintance.”

“That’s the name  _ they _ gave you?! Are you serious?” Felix laughs harder, “oh my stars.”

Catra flushes, and so does Adora, who doesn’t think bringing up that 1) she gave that name to her and 2) her full name was indeed  _ Catra Applesauce MeowMeow.  _ Maybe she shouldn’t just mention that ever, in the name of not having a second world war. 

Catra grumbles under her breath  _ “little shits.” _

“I’m Bow,” he introduces himself awkwardly, “this is Adora and Glimmer. Are you guys from around here?”

“Can’t get off this poo-fart island,” Felix’s ear flicked as he mumbled, “are you really from Brightmoon?”

Glimmer nods, “what’s it like?” one of them asks, Felix.

“We can tell you, if you’d show us around,” Bow offers,  _ and maybe not put a dead rat on their towels but oh well.  _

Without another word, they push past the trio and grab onto Catra’s skirt and start pulling her along. She lets out a yelp but finds herself unable to yank them away, their tiny paws tight around her waist band, it was almost cute. Bow was surely cooing (again). 

They venture out across the island, mostly partaking in the tiny shops and food stands. Catra watches her girlfriend eat her bodyweight in kabobs, an all-cat diet of meat. She catches Felix and Filli trying to cough up a hairball on her every now and then, for reasons she doesn't know, the same with Bow and Glimmer: passing her some odd glances they don’t expect her to see. She tries to ignore it. 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

That night: Catra sees something she doesn’t expect, well, more so. This entire trip was unexpected: the people just like her, the justification of her species:  _ Magicat,  _ the way the King and Queen and pretty much everyone on the fucking island looked at her like she was an outlier when she has never blended in more in her entire life. The entire trip was just  _ weird,  _ and it felt wrong, but the rest of their squad assured her they would be spending the weekend here for whatever reason.

“We just wanna lil’ vacay!” Glimmer shrugged, attempting to tie her wine-colored wrap from the behind, out of the niceness in her heart Catra helps her, she notes the way Glimmer trembles lightly as a nail pokes into her back, the way her eyes went wide as she explained that this place beat Mystacor in the beach department.

No beach scored in the beach department, Catra thinks, water sucks. 

Everyone is acting weird always here, Catra wants to shake it off but she isn’t so sure she can. She expects the occasional strangeness from the four of them, Adora had an interesting taste in friends, but what she didn’t expect was to see  _ magic. _

Her eyes water up as she watches from a distance, hearing from her periphery the gasping  _ oohs and ahhs  _ of children and her friends in front of her. The fire burns her eyes, she watches two magicats dressed in bronze light a fire in their hands, no matches or lighters to be seen, just in the palms of their hands. The two light the flames easily across their arms like wings, wide and bright. Catra doesn’t know what to say.

“What, you’ve never seen fire magic before?” a booming voice says besides her, Dino, she recognizes.

Not knowing how long he’s been standing there, she shakes her head.

“You can’t be serious,” he scoffs, Catra flinches at the disappointment in his voice.  _ Was she supposed to know? _

“You’re actually serious,” is the next thing to come out, it’s airy in disbelief, Catra nods smally. 

“Where did you come from?”

“Don’t remember,” her voice is hoarse as her eyes train on the flames, which are now up in the air retelling a story she doesn’t know.

“We got word that there was a magicat running the Horde not too long ago,” he starts, “I take it, that was you?”

She nods, willing to take whatever reaction she would get. Usually, if Adora wasn’t around, it was a vile tumble of words and curses, a few times resulting in violence, but this time it was just: “you look too cute to be a war commander.”

“Believe it or not,” she states simply, “overthrew the old guy, too.”

“Are you gonna tell the King and Queen?”

“You still dangerous?”

“Not as much.”

All Dino does is take a deep breath, watching the display with her with a shaky inhale, “then we have nothing to worry about.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra doesn’t see Glimmer make a sly exit to the ship, she knows better than to think Catra doesn’t know, knows better than to think that Bow isn’t the slightest bit disappointed in her, or that Adora isn’t as mad as she says she is, or will be when Glimmer lets her know she did exactly the opposite of what she wanted. Though, she considers, if it ends up the opposite of what she’s expecting, there will be nothing to say on it. They can go back to normal and Catra will  _ not  _ be a princess.

It’d be exciting if she were, Glimmer notes, a huge chunk of her just wants to be able to tease Catra on it, force her to dress up in frilly princess dresses. She’s forgiven Catra for everything, but she’d make it so this is a part of her redemption.

If Catra is a princess, she has no choice but to raise, there would be a few things to change. First off, Catra would be an heir to a throne, aside from the one in the old Fright Zone, she would quite literally be a queen one day, Glimmer can barely comprehend it. Secondly, she would leave them,  _ for good,  _ and it would tear them all apart.

Adora’s had to lose her enough times, and it was shocking how easily she wormed into their hearts, Brightmoon would be sort of devastated. She knows, in passing, that Catra’s gone out of her way to make amends with the Princess Alliance, by taking leadership in rebuilding, by working herself to no end trying to make it up to Micah for inadvertently killing his wife (and her mom), and by doing so, she ended up making a place in everyone’s heart that Glimmer knows couldn’t be replaced, it pains her to say it, but she’ll miss her.

But she has to know, she’s a good person for doing this for her and possibly saving an entire kingdom’s bloodline. She has to do it, as one queen to a-hypothetical-nother. She wants to do this, for she doesn’t know why.

Maybe it’s because she sees the way Catra acts around Micah, or Bows dads, or any civilian taking their kids out on a Brightmoon afternoon, she’s a bit jumpy around moms and dads, parents, aunts, uncles. She doesn’t understand it, not the basics of “this is a mom” and “this is a dad,” no she doesn’t understand the _ fundamentals,  _ and it gives her a little heartache. 

She doesn’t take to teleporting this time, she just slinks into the ship, maybe she  _ wants  _ to be caught. Entrapta is easily found in the back, working on the engine or something or other, but she doesn’t hear her footsteps.

“Entrapta? Entrapta!” the girl barely responds, flicking one pigtail upwards as she brings out another intricate tool of her creation.

“Yes, hello Glimmer, what do you need?” the tones simple, completely neutral, completely unknown to the unethicality of this task.

“Do you have the results?” 

Suddenly, Entrapta’s hair springs forward, reaching for a scroll across the room, she tosses it to Glimmer. 

She takes a deep breath, but the results don’t shock her at all.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra has to physically restrain Adora from drinking more of their local ale, pulling her along the crowded roads of the celebration under the moonlights. Dino sends her a glance in passing as she trudges along with her drunk girlfriend on her back, as do the King and Queen who were watching from a palanquin, their eyes burning past the magic of fire.

She sees Felix and Filli on the way to their cottage, “have you seen the other two?”

“Glimmer went on the ship,” Felix says, Filli elbow-butts him in the ribs, “I don’t think we were supposed to see.”

Catra gives them a grunt and a bare nod, what would Glimmer have to go onto the ship for? Without Bow seems strange too, who hasn’t been seen since earlier. Last time she saw them they looked tense, giving each other communicative stares, Catra wasn’t going to get into it. 

Adora leaves sloppy kisses along her jawline as they reach their room, Catra has to push her away and onto the bed. The blonde, tomato-faced and giggly, flops onto her back and stares at the ceiling as Catra pulls off her shoes, which, granted, were still her red and white boots since they didn’t supply them with shoewear and were a  _ bitch _ to get off. 

“Y’know, if you  _ were  _ a princess,” Adora slurs, hiccups, and laughs, “you would be the prettiest princess in  _ ALL  _ of the lands.”

She then passes out, leaving Catra a little mystified. 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“Do you think she knows?” eyes watch through the window, piercing the dark.

The celebration is long gone, just for tonight, people will come and go again tomorrow. For now, they don’t have to worry.

“No,” she shakes her head, watching the sleeping girl grumble and roll over, “but her friends definitely do.”

This was insanely creepy, but the way her ears flick as she dreams is adorable. She deserves to think it’s adorable, a bit creepy but adorable, to make up lost time.

“Should we do something?”

“We’ll wait it out.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Adora wakes up when she feels her girlfriend shaking, rolling around. One of her arms hitting her face.

“Ouch, Catra, watch it-” she grumbles as she slowly wakes up, however the moment of waking up speed runs in her system as she recognizes that she’s having a nightmare. 

Adora hastily sits up, ignoring the loud creak in her back and the thrumming in her head, taking to rubbing her girlfriend’s shoulders. Melog bounds up onto the bed and rests on Catra’s legs. 

“Catra, baby, wakeup, you’re having a nightmare,” it’s a rapid hush, “Catra.”

Catra’s panting, her shaking intensifying as her claws fist the sheets, possibly tearing the linen. 

“Catra, wake up,” she shakes her harder, “wake up. Please.”

The “please” is what gets her. Catra yelps as she slams upright, one hand immediately going up to her neck as the other one fists the sheet. She breathes heavily, not even sure if she can hear or register Adora.

“You’re okay, it’s okay,” she reassures her, a soft touch on the shoulder, “you’re okay.”

“Was someone,” Catra takes a deep gulp of air, “was someone watching us?”

“What?” Adora recoils, head swerving to the wide window and door, staring out to the calm sea and desolate sands, “baby, no one’s here. No one was watching us.”

She squeezes her shoulder once more, “no one even knows we’re here, we’re completely separated from everyone else.”

Melog comes closer, purring and rubbing the girl’s face, Catra can’t say much. It must have been a Prime dream, her blood boils at the thought. Catra’s next words contradict her thought.

“Do you think my parents are alive? Like, do you think they’re here?”

The words don’t come out easily, rushed and cut short, heaving breaths caught in the middle.

“I thought you didn’t care-”

“I was lying! Of course I care!” Catra hissed, “everyone is acting weird and they’re always looking at me and I don’t know why.”

_ Because you might be their lost princess,  _ “no one is looking at you weird,” instead Adora says, mentally slapping herself.

“No one?” Catra’s eyes shoot to pin pricks, “are you kidding me? Everyone has been looking at me, those kids put a rat on our mats for stars’ sake.”

“They were just being kids- Catra,” she stops her.

“No,” she gets up, covering her eyes with her hands, “it’s fine. I’m going on a walk. Do  _ not  _ follow me.”

That apparently also included Melog, who must’ve been given a nonverbal queue to  _ leave her the fuck alone,  _ they grumble and curl onto Adora’s lap, ignoring the slamming of the door. She just needs to calm down, right? Wasn’t it just any other nightmare?

So why does Catra seem more shaken up then usual?

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra makes her second round on the beach, letting her frame strand to the edge of the water, ignoring the coldness that washes her toes. It’s freezing, while the afternoons were hot and the water was warm, it seemed that the morning’s ocean was cold, maybe it was just her. She didn’t think of changing last night, she was pretty set on getting Adora on bed that she didn’t change, the clothes she were given were comfortable and practical enough for a morning walk.

“Rough night?” a voice interrupts her thoughts, commanding her to snap her attention to the voice who asked.

It was the Queen, she hadn’t actually heard her voice before.

“Oh,” Catra sighs, “Queen Felicity- I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’m- uh- I’m sorry.”

The woman raises her hand, effectively silencing Catra, “no need. Call me Felicity, I hate being called queen, feels too old.”

Catra lets out the empty tusk of a laugh, looking at the ocean as the same as the woman. She watches her eyes momentarily before flicking her gaze to the lazy tumble of waves.

“Calming, isn’t it?” she says, “you must have walked some time to get here- this is our end of the beach.”

“Isn’t this all of your beach?” Catra catches herself, immediately flushing, “sorry.”

Instead, the woman laughs, “again, no need, you’re quite the shy thing, aren’t you? Catra, was it?”

She bobs her head, blush still incredibly apparent on her freckled-fuzz face, “s’nice name.”

“You really don’t have to lie,” Catra responds, the woman laughs again. Felicity.

“No, it’s a fine name,” her brain reminds her,  _ C’yra,  _ but it isn’t hers. The woman continues, “do you know who gave it to you?”

“Adora did,” she starts, “I didn’t have one until I was three, uh, she’s not very good with names either.”

“But you kept it?”

“Of course, I mean, I couldn’t take it back.”

“Does Adora mean a lot to you?” Catra flinches but the woman gives no headway to her uncomfortability.

“Uh, yeah, she does,” the woman nods.

The waves reach their feet, for the past minutes Catra’s toes dug into the sand, causing water to well up and bead around her nails. 

“Are you going to marry her?”

_ Okay, why the fuck are you asking, lady, I don’t know yo-  _ “yeah, I think I am.”

“Seems nice, she’ll take care of you,”  _ this woman is weird as fuck- why is she asking me? _

Her heart slows at the woman, she’s so _ familiar,  _ deeply so, it’s irritating that she’s never seen her before. 

The woman’s eyes start watering, “oh- are you okay? I’m sorry- I-”

“No,” she pauses her, “it’s just, I love young love, s’been sometime since I experienced it.”

“Oh,” Catra starts to laugh, “right, uh, you don’t look  _ that  _ old- wait, fuck, no that wasn’t the right thing to say- I-”

“You are a funny, little thing,” Felicity muses, “again, no worries. Now let’s say we go get some breakfast, you look hungry, little thing.”

Catra’s heart jumps at  _ little thing,  _ it should be condescending but somehow it  _ isn’t.  _ She bobs her head quickly, her face is likely a mess, along with her hair, but the queen doesn’t seem to care so she can’t bring herself to, either. She’s watching her, almost sweetly so, and takes her hand behind to her back, just right above her tail- a zip of electricity goes up her spine and she’s lucky enough that she didn’t shiver at it, worrying the queen would repel.

She didn’t. She walked them both up to the palace in a comfortable silence. Catra liked it.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“You haven’t seen her since?” Bow chews through his breakfast, Adora nods at him as she hastily picks up another sausage, seriously, she has never seen so much nor eaten so much meat in her life, she opts for a piece of native fruit. To be honest, it also tasted like meat, she’s been having a lot of meat, lately.

“Yeah, she just left,” Adora goes, “I think this whole place is making her upset, she said that people were looking at her weird.”

Bow and Glimmer look at eachother, halting their meal, “we have something to tell you.”

It’s never good when Glimmer says it, Adora groans, “oh gods.”

“We were just… curious,” Bow clarifies, “and we’ll follow your judgement on this one, but-”

“You can’t be mad at us! We were doing the right thing!”

“Can you just spit it out already?”

“ _ WemadeEntraptratestCatra’sDNAandshe’sthelostprincess,”  _ this is certainly a chunk of meat to swallow.

“You  _ what?”  _

_ “Quiet!”  _ Glimmer says in a whisper-yell, she forgets they’re in the middle of the Royal’s dining hall, “we can’t have other people  _ knowing,  _ well, they might already know because of her  _ eyes. Like. I. Said.” _

“I told you  _ not to, Glimmer,”  _ Adora growls, “I can’t hide this from my girlfriend!”

She’s dating a princess, unbelievable.

“So we tell her! Easy.”

“No,” she cuts her off, “no way. We’re not telling her.”

“Adora-”

“I said  _ no,”  _ she repeats firmly, jaw clenched and stare an icy cold, “you said you’d follow my judgement and I’m saying we don’t tell her.”

“Tell me what?” she, the princess in question, inquires.

“Catra!” Adora yelps, “how long have you been standing there?”

Clearly not long enough to have the neutral look on her face, almost tallying up to a smile. She definitely seems a lot calmer than before. Catra shrugs and pecks Adora’s cheek, sitting in the empty chair besides her, “hey guys.”

“Hey, Catra,” Bow says uneasily, “you feeling better?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” Catra slyly takes Adora’s plate from her placemat, earning a glare and a grumble from the blonde.

“What’d you do?” Glimmer questions, it sounds nearly interrogative.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Sparkles,” she jests, forking a piece of sausage, “walked along the beach, I had to get away from bad breath here, and uh, talked to the queen.”

All three of their brows collectively raised to the high-arching ceiling, “what did you guys talk about?”

“Uh, nothing,” she answers, granted, confusedly, “just… I ended up on her side of the beach, we talked for a while. Nothing big.”

Adora lets out a sigh in relief, “that’s nice, hey, let’s say we grab some meat for Melog and head out. I saw a few shops we could go to, I think the palace might even have a spa.”

Adora rambles purposely, taking Catra away, who can’t say much as Adora’s pulling her along as she’s chewing on a juicy piece of sausage. She doesn’t see the blonde send the other couple a glare as they walk away.

_ Got it. Not a word.  _

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra lets her girlfriend take her to the spa, lets her whisk her along the shops, and to less coveted Magicat restaurants, but she knows something is on the girl’s mind. Every moment she thinks she’s looking away, Catra can feel Adora’s hard stare on her. 

Bow and Glimmer weren’t even with them, opting to go see some activity or something or other, she noted the high-pitchness in Bow’s voice, he always did that when he was hiding something. Besides that, Entrapta, who hadn’t set foot on dry land, gave Catra this strange, puffy-cheeked look when they went on the ship and hadn’t said a word. Entrapta’s never like that.

There’s bullshit afoot, and it definitely sounds like Bow and Glimmer are throwing a surprise party, but she doesn’t want to believe that either. Catra hates surprises and hates parties, they know better, well, half better- they would probably skip the surprise. Whatever it is, they are definitely hiding something.

But Catra doesn’t know if she wants to get to the bottom of it.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

That night, Adora meets her fifth magicat with heterochromic eyes, and she’s beyond dangerous. 

Glimmer was right about the line drawn between Heterochromia because they were all here. Some that she already knew: Felix and Filli, who she learned were cousins of the queen and heirs to the throne, the king and queen: who kept passing warm glances to one another, all attention focused on Catra whenever she chose to add onto Glimmer’s retelling of stories Adora couldn’t cling onto right now. 

Because the fifth cat of the royal line had a laser beam focus on Catra, which was strange because her eyes barely stayed open. She was old, far older than anyone else on the island, that she extended age with a strange power. Her puffy grey tail occasionally whacked the table, her ears drooped besides her head, and eyes barely opened but when they did, those mottled brown and green eyes stayed on Catra and watched her like prey.

Besides that, dinner was just fine. They met with the royal family, as promised, Catra kept her head down mostly unless it were to crack a joke or add onto Glimmer’s ramblings, which were rooted in haste and panic but appeared well-thought and diplomatic. Bow was quick to add, or branch off into a ramble with King Milo, who has the same knack of technology as him. Felicity converses with Catra the most, taking rapt attention in listening to her long-found daughter whenever she spoke, choosing to ignore everyone else in her inner circle. It was quite obvious, even for Adora. She wonders if she’ll tell her, a heap of her hope she does, she doesn’t know if she can keep it in for much longer.

Catra squeezes her leg under the table, giving her a small beam of hope as dinner continues, unable to notice the zoned-out expression on Adora’s face- she realizes she hasn’t been talking this entire time, she passes a half-assed smile to Catra before she turns away. Her glance stays on the older magicat, who smiles at the interaction between the two and continues to chew on her meal.

Catra looks happy here, Adora thinks, some of her discomfort finally dissipated and she seemed… actually comfortable with the queen. Catra doesn’t know yet, but she’s definitely going to know soon. What happens then? Will she leave her to become heir to the throne? To learn magic on the island indefinitely? Is she never going to talk to Adora again because she didn’t tell her soon enough? Oh no, she’s going to be put into royal cat jail for treason, no she doesn’t understand treason but she was definitely getting arrested for it. 

“Ahem,” King Milo clears his throat, Adora’s head quickly swerves to the head of the table, “I should never be able to speak at these things, we all know my track with public speaking.”

The table laughs a little and Milo absolutely beams, “right, well, I wanted to make a toast: to our family, to our island, to our crops, and our people, they have graced us with more strength and courage then I could ever keep in myself. We lost our little C’yra twenty-two years ago now and I’m blown away by our island’s abilities to keep her memory alive, so headstrong in celebrating and cherishing her memory.”

Catra looks as if she remembered something, her eyes wide and breath quick, shaken. Adora returns the past affection and squeezes her leg gently but she makes no move of response.

“I don’t know where she is now,” it’s through his teeth but somehow it's true, “sometimes it keeps me up at night, not knowing if I would know the young woman now compared to the times we had when she was so small, but I know she’s turned out just like her mother, brave and resilient.”

He raises his glass to the sky and takes a long sip, painfully, there’s tears watering in his eyes and Felicity’s, Catra’s off to the side, unreadable as she watches them unfold. 

“We also want to thank our guests for visiting at such a time, I believe our island holds a love not much know of, at this time in the season especially, we are grateful for our visitors. We hope from here we can form a political bond that will make us both happy, but enough of that now. Long live C’yra of Dilruth the III.” 

Catra looks like she’s about to cry, to be honest, everyone does, but Catra usually stomps out the tears by now, she can’t bring herself to wipe them away, falling freely. Felicity looks at her with concern but she quickly excuses herself.

When Adora looks to follow, she sees that the fifth magicat is gone.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

_ C’yra of Dilruth III,  _ it had to be a prank, right? What was a Dilruth, anyways? Her brain had to know something beforehand, picked up one of Entrapta’s ramblings along the way, heard the name in her sleep, or whatever the fuck. This couldn’t be her’s, she couldn’t have known it, this name that’s been whispered in her ear all weekend.

It couldn’t be her.

It couldn’t be her because she did what she always does: run. Princesses don’t run because she is  _ not a princess _ . She is the embodiment of running while princesses are sedentary, they stay, they do their job, they rule with a smile on their face. She’s seen a lot of princesses in her time around Brightmoon, even before as a Horde officer, and none were ever like her and she wasn’t like them, and she’ll keep it that way because she  _ isn’t a princess.  _

She was vicious, she was more cat than magicat, so lost in instincts taught in the Horde, she was raised to be this way. She was raised to  _ beat princesses.  _ She was raised to get so lost in her words that she didn’t know the syllables anymore. She was raised to put her head down and fight. She was raised to never smile, never cup her hands and wave, never toast, and  _ never  _ to find a prince. 

She was raised to be alone. She was raised surrounded by officers that didn’t know better. By cadets that were taught that thinking about a life outside of the Horde and  _ punished.  _ By officers who spat in her face and told her she would never be loved the way any being requires to be loved, and when it was her time, she did the same. Because that’s what she was raised to do. 

She was raised to beat princesses. Then to love princesses. She couldn’t be a princess.

_ I am not a princess, _ she breathes,  _ I am not a princess. Her _ name was Catra, not  _ C’yra of Dilruth III.  _ She was born into the Horde, must have been found in some abandoned town or other in a raid. She was raised with spit and distaste and that’s all she’s ever known.

“Felicity was right, you are a crazy, little thing,” a croaky mirth behind her, Catra turns around quickly.

It was just the woman from dinner.

“You were talking to yourself,” she smiles softly, “what were you saying?”

“It was nothing,” it’s cold, shaky, she’s going to run if she doesn’t stop herself.

“Hmm,” she hums, “it sounded like something. Are you okay, love?”

She wants to hiss, push her touch away, but she can’t move. All this strength willing herself not to run away, she has to welcome it.

“I‘m fine,” she tries to look at the ocean, it’s pitch black but she can see flames of the magicats lighting the sand. It’s nice, from a distance.

The woman suddenly branches out and grabs her by both cheeks, commanding her to lean down. She yelps as she pries her eyes open, taking a long and hard look. It’s moments later when she lets her pull away, “you have your mothers eyes.”

“Not possible,” she responds plainly, “I don’t have a mother.”

“Sure you do,” the woman let out a crackly, squeak of a laugh, “I swore I just saw her in there.”

“Saw her where?!” This woman was crazy, crazy and old. Kooky, just like Razz. She was hallucinating, she had to be.

“Swear you saw her too,” she muses, “I swore you had good eyes, she was in there.”

“Who,” she exhales, fear in her tone, “who are you talking about.”

“My little Felicity,” she pops, “you should know her as  _ mom,  _ but that's not the way fate plays.” 

If fate played her way, her parents wouldn’t have to see the mess made out of her daughter. She shakes her head violently, “that is  _ not  _ my mother.”

“That’s some teen spirit you have, little thing,” she muses, “but that’s your mother.”

“How,” Catra spits, “how is that my mom?”

“Such a silly kitty,” she wants to growl at the pet name, she barely restrains herself, “you have the same eyes! All of the royal family has eyes like yours!” she opens hers: a brown and a green, “see?”

If that was true, this woman was her grandmother, and if that was true, then she would be C’yra of Dilruth II, and that would mean…

She’s C’yra of Dilruth III.

“I have to go,” she’ll make a name for her later, like she saw Glimmer do. Granny? Meemaw? She didn’t have time to think about it.

She ran. Princesses don’t usually run but she does. 

Why didn’t they say anything? Of course Felicity and Milo were looking at her weird, and so was everyone else because she basically had an arrow on her back saying  _ “hey! I was that princess you all looked for for twenty two years? Surprised to see me alive?”  _ She forces the tears out of her eyes and keeps running, she has to. She has to run in order to keep breathing, the income of warm wind is her lifeblood as she runs past the corridors, all the halls, all the frames of dead people she  _ should  _ know the names of. 

Was this Shadow Weaver’s final plan? Keep her away from her family and let her take over the Horde so when, inevitably, she found them again, she would see the destroyed faces of someone who’s daughter was a monster? Tears ran down her face freely, her dress, the finest of silks, was sure to be tearing as she forcefully pounded on marble. She ignored the ache in her feet, the thrumming in her chest, the nauseous feeling in her stomach but she couldn’t ignore-

“Catra?” there she was, she stops herself from running more, knowing to outrun this voice is a challenge from the gods. 

She turns to her, who looks so beautiful in the moonlight that pours downright onto the fretful look on her face, “Catra.”

She heaves, running into her open arms and burrowing into her chest. Her nails cling on tight to the fabric on the girl’s back while the girl runs hers soothingly down her back.

“I’m their princess,” it makes a lot more sense now that she admitted it, the celebration, the looks, the eyes, the eerie familiarity. 

“I know,” Adora sighs. 

The touch turns poisonous. Catra immediately recoils, she pushes the girl away.

“You- you knew?”

The other night makes a lot more sense now, she figures it was just drunk talk but no.

Adora nods, “it was Bow and Glimmer’s idea- they, they ran your DNA.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“How was I supposed to?” Adora yells, “listen, if you want to leave- that’s fine, you can be the magicat queen and-”

“Are you kidding me?” they didn’t want her, was what this was. They got tired of her, they saw her for what she actually was and they were going to drop her off here without a choice, they were just waiting for the right moment.

“I can’t do this right now,” without another word, she keeps running and Adora doesn’t follow.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Felicity finds a girl in the courtyard and that’s when she actually sees her. It’s dark, nearing too rapidly towards the pinnacle of the celebration. They can both hear calls and cheers even from such a long distance while Catra keeps her ears pinned, tail coiled protectively around her waist. 

She could barely make her shape out in the darkness like this, but Felicity knew she was staring at the mosaic above the fountain. 

“Do you ever… think about her?” The words are choppy, thick yet so low when the tumble out of her form.

“Of course,” she answers candidly, “all the time.”

“I’m sorry you lost her,” Catra tries, “I didn’t say it before but, losing someone sucks.”

Felicity hums, “it’s nice when they come back though, isn’t it?”

She wants to say it sounds like a fairytale for that to happen, but Adora came back for her and she came back for Adora. Now she’s here, and she figures in a way she’s coming back too. Catra can’t look her in the eyes, all she’ll find is herself.

“If they became a monster, though,” she pauses, pushing down a sob, “would you still want them to come back?”

“I don’t think people become monsters,” she thinks, “I think there are monsters and people who are just… lost.”

_ Lost. Lost. But now she’s found, right? _

The tears come back up, welling up and sliding down her face, Felicity doesn’t say a word but she can tell that she’s looking at her with those eyes she’s known her entire life. 

She sighs, swiping her arm on her face to try and stop the tears. 

“What did you want for her? Your daughter?”

“Lots of things,” she starts, arms crossed snuggly on her chest as her gaze flicks to the mosaic, “I wanted her to eat good food and get good sleep, I wanted her to play with all the other kits and make friends, I wanted to see how her laugh changed, I wanted to see how much she cried, or if she tried to suck it up just like her momma, I wanted her to come into our bed at night and fall asleep as we read stories to her, I wanted her to fight, stay safe, learn how to wield magic, read books, I wanted her to find love, I wanted her to grow up, take her place on the throne, if she wanted, I wanted her to be _ happy. _ ”

Catra can’t say a word, Felicity asks her, “are you happy, C’yra?”

Her head snaps up to her voice, gold eyes meet gold, blue eyes meet blue, and they both just happen to be crying. Neither of them can say a word before Catra falls into her embrace and it’s just like what she dreamed of. It’s warm, a bit furry, Felicity’s strong arms come around and wrap around her back and pull her in closer. 

They stay like that for a long time, Felicity pulls her away barely as she says, “I want to show you something.”

Catra lets Felicity pull her along, a gentle hand around her shoulder as she leads her up one of the palaces towers. It’s a long uphill climb, but Catra doesn’t mind. She can’t feel her legs By the time they reach the top, the windows look down on all of Purrsia, it’s breathtaking.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” Catra asks, Felicity shakes her head.

She doesn’t say another word until shortly after when they make it to the room at the end of the hall, “this is what I wanted to show you.”

She pulls out a key, hidden in the valley of fur on her chest, hanging protectively on a thick cord, and uses it to unlock the door.

Catra recognizes it immediately: a room painted a canary yellow, painted with magenta swirls and twists, stars hang from the ceiling which is domed and high. At the far center, there’s a small crib, wooden and kindly built, dozens of stuffed animals filling the should-be occupied space. 

There’s a rocker near the wide window, covered with a purple blanket she barely recognizes, there’s crafts and frames to the side. This was supposed to be her room.

Another set of footsteps enters the room, they both turn. It’s King Milo, Milo, or maybe dad. He has that same kicked puppy look he had when she first met him, except now she understands. She runs to him, hugging him before he can hug her. For being as lanky and bony as her, he’s an amazing hugger.

She lets her whole life pour out onto the floor, she tells them about Adora, who was the first person who ever believed in them, about Bow and Glimmer, who’s infuriating personalities grew on her, about the Horde, about Shadow Weaver and how she betrayed her over and over again, how she set off a portal in a blaze of fury, how her guilt ate her alive, how she overthrew Hordak, how she saved the Queen of Brightmoon, how she spat in an intergalactic leaders face, how she got an alien cat, how she, somehow, saved the universe, and how happy she finally was. They listened to her, every point of the way, they don’t love her any less, she can see in the way they look at her and continue to keep her in their arms. 

They talked some too, on their responsibilities, on life around the island, their favorite places to hide from their own authority, about King Milo’s inventions, about the elemental magic the island possesses. At same time, Catra’s eyes become heavy, drained and weary from all of it, and they close shut.

It’s sometime near dawn, Felicity chuckles at the peaceful look on her face. She picks her up fluidly, carrying her into their room not too far from hers. They’re all too big to fit on the same bed, but they make it work.

Felicity gets one of her wishes, watching her grumble and curl around her arm as she places her on the arm. She pushes a strand of hair away from the girl’s sleeping face, “happy birthday, little thing.” 

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra doesn’t come back that night, or in the morning, nor in the afternoon. She doesn’t see much of the king or queen, either. When she asks Garfield where she is, he just brushes her off. Dino just pats her shoulder while Dinah just does an awkward laugh and scurries away.

The only people who answer her are Felix and Filli. She doesn’t like the answer.

“We saw her with auntie and uncle, I think she’s staying,” Felix grumbles, “should’ve used more rats.”

Adora shakes her head, she almost wishes she had to see another dead rat if it meant Catra would  _ stay,  _ with her, not here.

When she regroups with Bow and Glimmer, they haven’t seen her either, but they manage to get Entrapta off the ship and into sunlight.

“It’s a low probability that Catra would willingly defect from the Princess Alliance,” Entrapta explains as she looks up to Adora, “though with the confirmation that her parents are alive and want her to take over the throne, it raises 20%. Also adding the aggravated state Catra most likely is in, it raises another 5%. The likelihood of her leaving becomes 30%.”

It’s below fifty, she tells herself, that’s a number they can work with.

But ultimately, if Catra wants to leave, that’s her decision. Adora puts her hands over her eyes. She doesn’t bother listening to Bow’s reassurances nor Glimmer’s own self assurance ramble off to the side.

She gets up and walks away.

Melog hasn’t seen much of her either and outright refuses to tell Adora where she may be. Instead, the mewl and curl at her feet, keeping her afloat and steady before she can get too ahead of herself.

Catra will come back, she reassures herself, but she’s not so sure if she listens. 

When she sees her that night, Adora’s sure that she’s leaving her.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ 

If Catra is a princess, she certainly feels it now. Standing in front of the mirror, unable to keep her eyes off herself. She didn’t wear dresses usually, opting for a suit that compliments Adora’s outfit, but she didn’t mind them. They eventually grew on her after all those shopping trips with Glimmer, and she couldn’t say no to the queen, who claimed to have had this made for her when she was born. 

It fit her like a glove, the top half, that is, the bottom half of the gown crumples around her bare feet. It was enormous yet somehow, incredibly simple. Very similar to the outfit Felicity wore on her first day here, gauzy red fabric ruching at the neckline and branching out along her arms, drooping down the sleeves, which were wide and started at her elbows. Gold embroidery ran throughout the neckline and down the sleeves, at the waistline of the dress as well.

Okay, to be honest, this dress was very much not her thing, but for once, she didn’t mind. If her mom wanted her to wear it, she would wear it. 

“You look so beautiful,” Felicity coos, coming over to toy with the dress, ensuring it was all in place.

“Thank you,” she gasps, feeling the fabric run through her hands.

“I never thought I would get to see you in it,” she starts to tear up, wiping them down quickly, “I know it’s too much but thank you for wearing it for me.”

“I love it, don’t worry,” she pauses, “don’t worry, mom.”

Felicity gasps, bowing her head to hers, a purr surely running through them both. Eventually she pulls away, but not before going, “urgh! You’re too cute, I’m going to kill that Shadow Weaver.”

“The cutest, but it’s a little too late for that,” Catra muses, letting her mother hug her again, not minding the subtle joke she let herself make, “but you can take your shot.”

The more dead that bitch is the better. Truly.

Catra looks out the window from across the room, it’s the sunset of her twenty-second birthday. She can see people below setting up the tables for the party, cooks running around the outside pavilion in order to get all the catering in order, and people already filling outside the gates of the palace, excited to finally meet their lost princess. 

She can see Adora, who was given formal wear along with Bow and Glimmer, wearing a matching red dress that comes up and drapes down the back. She looks beautiful, even from a distance. 

“I know you’re going to say no,” Felicity starts, “but I want you to know that you’re welcome to stay. Always.”

She looks at her with the same fire she knows she holds herself and passes her a soft, sad smile, “‘m sorry, I can’t- it’s just, that’s my idiot down there and I made a promise to her.”

Felicity nods understandably, “promise me you’ll visit?”

“Of course,” Catra agrees, “no magic, though.”

They had gone over this last night, when Felicity had shown some of her power in flames and Catra instantly panicked.

“Hmm, no magic  _ yet.” _

She can’t even let out a groan. This is the teasing that she missed out on right? The way she saw Micah play with Glimmer and Frosta or the way Bow’s dad teased Bow. Some part of her longed for it, even when she didn’t know it was such an anomaly to have someone like Shadow Weaver as her guardian, Catra didn’t even know if she could even call her that. 

It hurt to think she had to leave, she knows she has to. Not out of unworthiness or undeservingness of love, Adora would scold her, she had to leave for Adora. 

“Hey, uh, mom?” she says in her warm embrace, “I think I have an idea.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“Uh, hi everyone,” Catra fiddles awkwardly at the podium, a hundred eyes on her.

This isn’t the first time she’s had so many eyes on her, after her numerous hearings and panels, she’s a certified public speaker (it’s what standing before your crimes does to you, she figures), but this is the first time people have ever looked like her, and watched her with a hundred glowing eyes. 

“I’m Catra,” it’s dead silent, she’s nervous.

“- and I’m your princess, sorry it took me so long.”

An immediate uptake in applause and cheers, she can see her Best Friend Squad flabbergasted in the crowd, Adora looking at her with flaming intensity.

“I, uh, actually didn’t know until last night,” Catra jokes tensely, “we don’t have people like us from where I’m from.”

“I want to thank you all for being here tonight, it’s an honor to have such a… large party in my honor that I had no idea existed!”

Fuck, she sounds like an asshat, she looks to Adora- who immediately throws up a thumbs-up, despite it all she’s her biggest fan. 

“You’ve all been so kind to us, thank you,” she reiterates, “but I’m sorry I can’t uphold the throne.”

There’s a large gasp among the crowd and she’s sure Adora’s soul reentered her body, she wants to roll her eyes. 

Part of her expects booing, but nothing comes, “I can’t be an outsider ruling your island, it would be unfair to the island, unfair to each and everyone of you. I made a promise a long time ago to stay and assist the Princess Alliance, I’ve made a promise to my mother to return and work as Purrsia’s diplomat in the alliance, our goal is to ensure a safe reintroduction for Purrsia to Greater Etheria.” 

There’s a hesitant applaud in her periphery but all she can focus on is the gleam in Adora’s eyes. She smiles back at her, all too much bite on her lower lip, but Adora knows.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“Can we talk?” She asks, tempted to pull her away from the kits pulling at her dress.

Catra looks up with a soft smile, the kits around her distract themselves with something different and run to it. They walk in a slow, seeping silence, moving to a less populated area of the venue. 

“You look different,” Adora starts, it hasn’t been less than a day, but Catra seems less stressed with the burden of all eyes on her now, “the dress is… nice.”

“Pfft,” she laughs, “this gaudy thing? I like it but it isn’t me.”

“Y’know, Glimmer’s never gonna let it go,” Adora shuts a hand over her mouth, “I mean, she might, if you need her to. We can totally make that happen.”

“Adora,” Catra rolls her eyes, “stop.”

“You’re… you’re not mad?”

“No,” she starts, “I think I was but I’m not anymore. I think I get it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, Glimmer’s bit of an idiot though.”

Adora laughs, “yeah, I know. We should put a dead rat on her bed.”

“Oh my gods, can we?” her eyes light up, tail flicking air excitingly, “please?”

“I shouldn’t have given you the idea,” she groans.

Catra laughs, it’s back to that high pitch squeaky laugh Adora’s known all her life. Once Catra stops, she knows it's because she’s looking at her  _ like that.  _ Catra gets that telltale blush on her face.

“I love you,” Adora says, “I know I haven’t said it in awhile, but I do. Catra, I love you so much. No matter what you choose to do, I’ll be there with you every step of the way and I-”

A long, black nail comes to poke her forehead, interrupting her thoughts completely. 

“You’re such an idiot.”

“I am?” 

“You are,” Catra nods softly, her hands coming up to cup Adora’s face, “didn’t you hear me? I’m never leaving you, you can’t get rid of me.”

“... unless you want to get rid of me, that is.”

Adora snorts, “I’m not getting rid of you, goof.”

Catra stutters for a moment, not knowing whether to go in or not, nonetheless, she pulls her in for a kiss. Adora pulls her in closer, humming into the kiss as she wraps her arms around her neck. Catra pulls away soon and leaves a dozen kisses along her jaws.

“It’s agreed,” Catra kisses her on the check, a small bite to the peck, “we’re not getting rid of each other, we’re getting off this island, and we never have to talk about me being a princess again.”

“Well maybe not the last part -  _ ouch!  _ Okay! Okay, no princess talk!”

“... princess.”

“You are absolutely infuriating.”

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Catra doesn’t remember the rest of the night, and neither does Adora, or Bow, or Glimmer, just Entrapta, who feels the need to recall every embarrassing drunk incident that happened the night previous as they prepared the ship.

“And then Adora stood up on one of the tables and pronounced her love for C’yra of Dilruth III again…”

“Entrapta!” Adora yells, “please. I am begging you, stop.”

“Yeah don’t make her go She-ra on you,” Catra jests as she loads a crate, “you don’t have to call me that, by the way.”

“What? Your birth name?”

“Yeah, it’s a little long, don’t ya think,” she wraps her arm around Adora’s waist, “and I like my name just fine.”

Entrapta shrugs, clearly not getting the message, “okay. Princess Catra it is.”

“No! That’s not what I meant-”

“OOOH,” Bow and Glimmer call, practically in unison, “have we all agreed on Princess Catra?”

“No we have not-”

“Princess Catra! Princess Catra! Princess Catra!” they chant, pulling her into their dumb dancing circle.

“Get off of me! I can have you arrested for royal treason, y’know.”

“Oh please, like you would,” Glimmer rolls her eyes, “your mom told us about how much you liked us at tea earlier, you have the cutest baby bum- by the way,” she sticks her tongue out.

“When did you- you did not? And shut up!” Catra’s beet red now.

“No, it’s true, you did,” Felicity comes up behind them, along with Milo, “you have everything you need for your journey home?”

“Yes, and Entrapta set up the comm pad in your guys’ room, you can call me anytime.”

“Besides when we’re out in space,” Entrapta notes, “or underwater, it’s actually quite difficult to get reception down there.”

“You know what I mean, basically anytime.”

“No, that’s not true Catra- I just said-”

Catra sends her a death glare, successfully silencing the purple-haired girl. “Anytime.”

“Is space safe?” Milo asks, looking with slight concern.

“At least 65% safe, a ‘D’ average.”

“What she said, safe enough,” Catra shrugs but that clearly wasn’t another for either of them, worry painted on their faces, “look, I’ve been up there before with Prime and everything, it’ll be fine.”

“No it’s not that,” Milo murmurs, “we’re just wondering if you’ll be able to wear this sweater that we made you!”

Before she can make any objections, an oversized sweater made up of the scratchiest material alive is thrown over her head. It’s itchy off the bat, downright miserable, yet Catra can still feels her eyes watering as she looks at the little cat print on the center of the jumper.

“We didn’t have time to make you all one,” Milo starts, “but we were able to speedrun through that one last night. We hope you like that, if not, we can always remake it, we know you don’t like socks.”

“No,” she sniffs, “it’s perfect, I love it. Thank you.”

She pulls them both into a hug she knows she’ll get made fun of later, she doesn’t actually care. She savors it, keeps it locked in place, slowly rubbing her face on her parents necks with a slight purr. She’s definitely getting made fun of this. 

“Thank you, again,” Catra pulls away, “I promise I’ll call, and visit, and send letters.”

Her parents nod, not saying much more as she starts walking up the ship. She can’t leave their gaze, understanding why at first it was so focused. Adora takes her hand in hers and gives her a reassuring glance.

Just as she turns around, she hears, “we love you!”

Her parents have made a finger-heart, it’s the cutest thing in the world and their smiles are going to make her explode. Who knew finding family could do this to you?

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

“Okay, we know you said:  _ “no parties,”  _ Glimmer chuckles awkwardly, “but you didn’t say:  _ “no small gatherings under six people.” _

“This is six people.”

“We said under!”

They’ve barely made it into the air, she’s sure they put Darla on autopilot. best not let Entrapta captain her, they know how she gets. Small streamers and confetti decorate the interior of the ship, along with a poorly-placed banner that either reads  _ “Happy Birthday Catra!”  _ or _ “Happy Birthday C’yra!”  _ but, hey, it’s the thought that counts, and this thought is very sloppy on a white banner Catra is sure they’re going to keep up for months just to bother her. 

Adora’s holding a small cake in her hands with a look saying  _ “I tried to stop them,”  _ but she understands now that the sparkly couple is a force to be reckoned with, especially arounds birthdays.

“Ugh, fine, since you got me cake,” but she glares at them, “don’t do this again.”

“Of course,  _ your Majesty.” _

“I’m going to kill you both.”

“To die at the hands of a princess?” Bow dramatically throws himself over the command center, causing a fuckton of buttons to scream in his wake, yet he persists, “oh what a tragic fate.”

“You’re dating a queen, did you know that? She has more power than me.”

“OH WOE IS ME!” Bow sighs exasperatedly, Glimmer following along with crocodile tears as Bow pretends to be (tragically) murdered.

“They are…” Catra clenches her jaw, “just the…”

“The best, I know,” Adora wraps her arms around her, leaving the cake on the table, “happy birthday, princess.”

“Do not let the others hear you say that and don’t let them get any other ideas.”

“So does that mean it can stay, Princess Catra?”

“Maybe,” Catra hums, “just between us.”

Adora nods, pulling her away before leaving for the command center, “Darla, next stop: the cosmos!”

Darla whirls at the words, and with rocket speed, they’re off. 

_ Fin.  _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Final Notes:  
> *out of breath* was that good?
> 
> More notes on lore:  
> *Yes, Purrsia was the ACTUAL name in the old show, crazy right? I wanted to have my artistic liberties tho lol  
> *Felicity was originally "Magicat Queen" in the original, I believe, could not let that stand. I don't even think the king was mentioned and the OG Catra was a colonizer... who would've thunk.  
> *Purrsia took to rebuilding immediately after their attack from the Horde and cut off all contact with foreign capitals  
> *They do NOT have a rune stone but can do sorts of elemental magic  
> *Felix and Filli are both Toyger cats apart of the royal family, cousins and heirs to the throne  
> *Dino and Dinah are siblings  
> *Milo is inspired by my editors cat, Kizzy, who is just… downright adorable.  
> *Magicat Wedding ceremony is essentially a soul bonding ritual that causes the outsider (if not from royal blood) to gain one of their partner’s eyes, causing heterochromia to stay in the bloodline. Basically the queen was asking if Catra planned on marrying Adora because 1) no royal magicat has married an outsider (human) before and 2) she doesn’t know if Adora could gain the heterochromia. 
> 
> Here are some of the characters that sadly, did not make it into this fic, my honorable mentions:  
> Tab, Toby, and Tabitha (all tabby cats, children of Garfield and his wife, Esmerelda (also not mentioned))  
> Esmerelda, wife of Garfield, a white persian cat  
> April, Milf Cat.  
> Freya, single mom of Felix and Filli, often drops them off with the king and queen so she can get some work done or go on dates. Sister to Felicity.
> 
> Some cute names I had saved for small litters (free to use in your own fic!):  
> Allie / Al  
> Leo/Leon / Lee / Leah  
> Gigi / Jorge  
> Savannah / Saff / Saffron  
> Arty / Artemis  
> Minerva / Minnow
> 
> Thank you so much for the read!


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